The present invention is generally related to children's riding toys, and more particularly, to a suspension system for a rocking horse or other riding toy.
Toy rocking horses typically have a stand with a vertical member at each one of the four corners of the stand. Helical or coil springs typically extend from the tops of the vertical members to a toy horse suspended by the springs in the middle of the stand. With this configuration, when a child is sitting on the horse, the springs permit the horse to be rocked back and forth and bounced up and down.
An example of a typical rocking horse is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 3,155,390 to Moore et al. The Moore et al. '390 patent discloses a rocking or hobby horse featuring a pair of transverse, horizontal rods that pass through and support the toy horse's body. Coil springs are connected between the ends of the horizontal rods and four tubular, generally vertical members positioned one each at the four corners of a stand. Each coil spring has a hook formed on its outer end that passes through a hole formed in the tubular wall of the corresponding vertical member. Significant wear of the hole and coil spring hook may occur with such an arrangement, however, which significantly limits the durability of the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,891,792 to Thoeming discloses a rocking horse having a stand that also features tubular, generally vertical members at each corner. A pair of horizontally-aligned holes are formed through the top portion of each vertical member. A ring with two hook-like terminal ends that engage the holes is positioned on the top of each vertical member. Each ring is engaged by a hook formed on the outer end of a corresponding coil spring where the four coil springs cooperate to suspend the horse from the stand. While the arrangement of the Thoeming '792 patent performs well, it is difficult to assemble and also suffers from durability concerns.
A more complex design for a rocking horse is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,489 to Laiche et al. The rocking horse of the Laiche et al. '489 patent features a stand that has a tubular, generally vertical member at each corner. Each tubular member receives a specially designed connector with flanges that engage a projection formed on the interior of the tubular member. An eye-bolt has a stem secured to the connector so that the loop portion of the eye bolt extends out of the end of the tubular member. A coil spring is hooked to the loop portion of the eye-bolt so that the toy horse is cooperatively supported by the springs. Ribbed sleeves fit over the coil springs and upper portions of the tubular members. While the rocking horse of the Laiche et al. '489 patent performs well, the spring connection arrangement is somewhat complicated which leads to increased production costs.